“Designating Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction”1. Purpose and Policy (Section 1)
- Illicit fentanyl is described as:
- Production and distribution by organized criminal networks, cartels, and Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs):
- Notes the potential weaponization of fentanyl for large‑scale terror attacks.
- On this basis, the President formally designates illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
Heads of agencies must take actions to confront the fentanyl/WMD threat, including:
Attorney General (2a):
- Pursue investigations and prosecutions into fentanyl trafficking.
- Use criminal charges, sentencing enhancements, and sentencing variances.
Secretary of State & Secretary of the Treasury (2b):
- Take actions against assets and financial institutions involved in or supporting illicit fentanyl and precursor chemicals, consistent with applicable law.
Secretary of War & Attorney General (2c):
- Consider whether the fentanyl threat justifies providing Department of War resources to DOJ for enforcing Title 18, U.S. Code, as allowed under 10 U.S.C. 282.
Secretary of War & Secretary of Homeland Security (2d):
- Update all Armed Forces directives for response to chemical incidents in the homeland to explicitly include illicit fentanyl.
Secretary of Homeland Security (2e):
- Using WMD and nonproliferation threat intelligence, identify threat networks related to fentanyl smuggling to support comprehensive counter‑fentanyl operations.
- “Illicit fentanyl”:
- “Core precursor chemicals”:
2. Implementation Directives (Section 2)3. Definitions (Section 3)4. General Provisions (Section 4)
